Pages

Friday, February 17, 2012

Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookies

It’s been just over a year since I started writing a
column for Yummy magazine and I must say I have been having a ball. This blog has always been one of my favorite
hobbies, and remains to be, but writing for a magazine is something altogether
different. It’s another medium for me to
reach out to fellow food lovers, as well as, hopefully, a few tentative souls who
need a little encouragement to get into the kitchen and experience the total
joy and liberation of creating one’s own nourishment. It’s also something physically tangible that
I can show off to my mum ;) (Yes, I think
I’ll always be that little girl happy to take her stars home to mama)

The Yummy team, those I have met thus far, are all
darlings and I so enjoy working with them.
And for someone who has to rely on the same four plates and three
placemats, having someone come over lugging a little shopping cart full of
dishes and an oversized canvas bag (monogrammed to boot!) stuffed with fabrics and
backgrounds, is quite the thrill really.
I think my food loves it just as much as I do!

If you haven’t picked the magazine up yet I encourage you
to give these guys a go. Simple recipes
that don’t scrimp on flavor, interesting and relevant features, and a nice
clean look. Oh yes, and there is my wee
column, “Family Kitchen”, where I share recipes from my own family table.

Here’s a recipe that came out in my column last March. Just in case you didn't catch it then :)

Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup Nutella

1 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

A pinch of salt

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup walnuts, chopped

- Cream the butter and both sugars together until light
and creamy. Add the egg and vanilla and
beat until smooth. Add the Nutella and
beat until combined.

- Add the flour, baking powder, and salt and stir until
just combined. Do not over stir.

- Bake in a 375F pre-heated oven for 10-12 minutes. Remove from the oven and let the cookies rest
for a couple of minutes on the baking pan before placing on a wire rack to cool
completely.

These cookies spread a lot during baking. You can chill them to minimize the spread but
I prefer not to – leaving their edges almost crispy and their thin middles butterscotchy in their chewiness. Although the actual Nutella flavor
is faint, I like the cookie so much that I keep making it the same way. My original recipe for Yummy has no nuts and
was meant to be frozen in a log (to be sliced up and baked later) – which of
course you can opt to do here as well.

I am happy to be a part of the Yummy roster once again this
year. I have a lot planned for my little
column so I hope you take a peek one of these days. I am also thrilled that they have given me a
lovely new 2-page layout! I couldn’t
stop smiling the day I saw it :)

Now I’m off to pack for another weekend beach trip! So I’ll leave you with these cookies…and a
weekend full of hours in which to bake them :)
Wish me good weather!